Cheese-flavored substance and method of producing same

Abstract

A two-stage process for producing a cheese-flavored substance is claimed. A flavor development medium is fermented with a source of lipase/protease; the source of lipase/protease is inactivated and the flavor development medium is fermented by at least one lactic acid-producing microorganism which is thereafter inactivated. The source of lipase/protease is preferably a microorganism, especially Candida lypolitica ATCC 20234. The cheese-flavored substance produced by the process and foods containing the cheese-flavored substance produced by the process are also claimed.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for producing an edible substance having a cheese flavor, that when added to a food, is capable of imparting its cheese flavor to the feed, comprising: (a) fermenting a dairy flavor development medium comprising a fat in an amount of from less than 0.5% weight by volume to about 50% weight by volume, and protein in an amount from about 0.3% weight by volume to about 12% weight by volume, with at least one microorganism source of lipase/protease that produces during said fermentation at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of lipase and protease;   (b) inactivating said microorganism;   (c) incubating said fermented flavor development medium with at least one lactic acid-producing microorganism to effect lactic acid fermentation, and then   (d) inactivating said lactic acid-producing microorganism, and   (e) recovering from the thus-processed flavor development medium an edible substance having a cheese flavor.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1 wherein said microorganism source of lipase/protease is selected from the genus Candida. 
     
     
       3. The method of claim 2 wherein said Candida is Candida lipolytica ATCC 20324. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one lactic acid-producing microorganism is a dairy strain of microorganism. 
     
     
       5. The method of claim 4 wherein said dairy strain of microorganism is selected from the group of genuses consisting of Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Micrococcus, Cirobacter and Brevibacterium. 
     
     
       6. The method of claim 5 wherein said Streptococcus is selected from the group consisting of S. cremoris, S. lactis, S. thermophilous, and S. diacetilactis. 
     
     
       7. The method of claim 5 wherein said Lactobacillus is selected from the group of consisting of L. casei, L. bulgaricus, L. acidophilous, L. delbrueckii, L. helveticus. 
     
     
       8. The method of claim 5 wherein said Leuconostoc is selected from the group consisting of Le. cremoris, Le. dextranicum and Le. citrovorum. 
     
     
       9. The method of claim 5 wherein ssaid Micrococcus is selected from the group consisting of M. caselvtics, M. conglomeratus and M. freudenreichii. 
     
     
       10. The method of claim 5 wherein said Citrobacter is selected from the group consisting of C. intermedii, C. freudenii. 
     
     
       11. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one lactic-acid producing strain of microorganism comprises two different species of lactic acid-producing microorganisms. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 11 wherein said two lactic acid-producing microorganism are selected from the genuses consisting of Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Micrococcus and Brevibacterium. 
     
     
       13. The method of claim 12 wherein said Streptococcus is selected from the group consisting of S. cremoris, S. lactis, S. tremophilous, and S. diacetilactis. 
     
     
       14. The method of claim 12 wherein said Lactobacillus is selected from the group consisting of L. casei, L. bulgaricus, L. acidophilous, L. delbrueckii. L. helveticus. 
     
     
       15. The method of claim 12 wherein said Leuconostoc is selected from the group consisting of L. cremoris, L. dextranicum and L. citrovorum. 
     
     
       16. The method of claim 12 wherein said Micrococcus is selected from the group consisting of M. caselytics, M. conglomeratus and M. freudenreichii. 
     
     
       17. The method of claim 14 wherein said Citrobacter is selected from the group consisting of C. intermedii, C. freudenii. 
     
     
       18. The method of claim 14 wherein said two lactic acid-producing organisms are Lactobacillus casei and Streptococcus lactis C 2 . 
     
     
       19. The method of claim 1 wherein said flavor development medium comprises at least one substance selected from the group consisting of skim milk, whole milk, non-fat dry milk, whey, whey protein concentrate, dried whey, butter, cream and milk fat. 
     
     
       20. The method of claim 19 wherein said flavor development medium comprises at least one substance selected from the group further consisting of vegetable oils including fatty acids of 10 carbon atoms inclusive or less, animal milk, animal milk fat and casein. 
     
     
       21. The method of claim 1 wherein said incubating step is carried out until the pH of said flavor development medium reaches from about 4.5 to about 5.5. 
     
     
       22. The method of claim 21 wherein said pH is about 5. 
     
     
       23. The method of claim 1 wherein the duration of said first fermenting stage is about 6 to about 48 hours. 
     
     
       24. The method of claim 1 wherein the duration of said first fermenting stage is about 48 hours. 
     
     
       25. The method of claim 1 wherein the duration of said second fermenting stage is about 3.5 to about 80 hours. 
     
     
       26. The method of claim 1 further including after the second fermentation stage the step of concentrating the fermented flavor development medium. 
     
     
       27. The method of claim 26 wherein said fermented flavor development medium is concentrated to a solids range of from 30-95% solids wt./wt. %. 
     
     
       28. The method of claim 26 wherein said fermented flavor development medium is concentrated to a paste with a solids range from about 40 to about 60% wt./wt. 
     
     
       29. The method of claim 26 wherein said fermented flavor development medium is concentrated to a solids content of about 95% solids wt./wt. 
     
     
       30. The method of claim 26 wherein said concentrating step is spray drying. 
     
     
       31. The method of claim 26 wherein said concentrating step is performed after the second inactivating step. 
     
     
       32. The method of claim 26 wherein said concentrating step is performed before said inactivating step. 
     
     
       33. The method of claim 26 wherein said concentrating step is performed simultaneously with said second inactivating step. 
     
     
       34. The method of claim 1 wherein said flavor development medium comprises less than about 2% fat and about 5% protein. 
     
     
       35. The method of claim 19 wherein said flavor development medium comprises about 0.3% protein and about 50% fat. 
     
     
       36. The method of claim 1 wherein said flavor development medium comprises about 3% protein and about 6.5% fat. 
     
     
       37. A process for producing an edible substance having a cheese flavor, that when added to a food, is capable of imparting its cheese flavor to the food, comprising: fermenting in a dairy flavor development medium supplying fat and protein, with at least one microorganism source of lipase/protease selected from the genus Candida and producing at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of lipase and protease;   inactivating said microorganism source of lipase/protease;   incubating said fermented flavor development medium with at least one lactic acid-producing microorganism to effect lactic acid fermentation,   inactivating said lactic acid-producing microorganism, and then   recovering an edible substance having a cheese flavor from said thus-processed flavor development medium.   
     
     
       38. The process of claim 37 wherein said microorganism from the genus Candida is Candida lipolytica. 
     
     
       39. The process of claim 38 wherein said flavor development medium is salted butter. 
     
     
       40. The process of claim 39 wherein said microorganism of the species Candida lipolytica is the strain Candida lipolytica ATCC 20324. 
     
     
       41. The process of claim 38 wherein said lactic acid-producing microorganism is S. lactis C 2 . 
     
     
       42. The process of claim 38 wherein said lactic acid-producing microorganism is L. casei. 
     
     
       43. The process of claim 37 wherein said lactic acid-producing microorganism is S. Lactic diacetilactis. 
     
     
       44. The process of claim 38 wherein said lactic acid-producing microorganism is a mixture of S. lactis C 2  and S. cremoris 134. 
     
     
       45. The process of claim 38 wherein said lactic acid-producing microorganism is a mixture of S. cremoris 134 and L. casei. 
     
     
       46. An edible substance having a cheese flavor that when added to a food is capable of imparting its cheese flavor to that food, said substance having been produced by the process of claim 39. 
     
     
       47. A cheese-flavored food product comprising a food selected from the group consisting of process cheese, process cheese food, process cheese spread, imitation cheese, and baked goods, to which has been added an edible substance having a cheese flavor prepared in accordance with the process of claim 38.